In the last round’s deciding match, Armenia – Hungary, Sergei Movsesian brought his team victory. After he offered a queen exchange with the move 31.Qb6! it became clear: his opponent couldn’t defend all his weaknesses!

Nisipeanu against Radjabov (Bazna Kings 2011) played 12.Bg5. I still wouldn't call the move 12.Nh4 a novelty, as a similar manoeuvre was played by Nadezhda’s sister Tatiana: 11...Ba7 12.Nh4 g6 13.Bg5 b5 14.Bb3 Bb7 15.Rae1± Kosintseva,T - Harika/Mardin TUR 2011.

12...g6 13.Bg5 0–0 14.Bb3+ Kh8 15.Kh1 Qg7? A mistake, but in any case White had a dangerous initiative.

16.f4 d5 17.Bxf6 Rxf6 18.fxe5 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 Qxe5 20.exd5 Bg4

21.Qxg6! The decisive blow.

21...Qxh2+ 22.Kxh2 hxg6 23.Nxg6+ Kg7 24.Ne5 and the conversion of the two extra pawns didn’t represent any problems... 1–0. At the Olympiad Nadezhda Kosintseva won seven games and posted the best result on the Russian team – 8 out of 9!

The Ukrainian chess players won bronze medals in both the men’s and the women’s tournaments. If Ukraine’s leader Vassily Ivanchuk suffered some failures in the first half of the Olympiad in the second he alternated wins only with draws! The following two attacks are from his games.

The “hero” of the first of them was ACP President Emil Sutovsky. I have to say Emil is doing a huge amount of work in that very troublesome but important post. And at times he lacks the energy to concentrate fully during a game…

10...Bd7N 11.Ne5 Be8 Switching the bishop to e8 looks a bit contrived, but the “safety margin” in Black’s position is still quite large.

12.Be2 Rc8 13.Rc1 h6?! 14.h3

It’s interesting that the inclusion of the moves h3 and h6 has noticeably altered the situation in White’s favour. Now if 14...Nce4 there would follow 15.Qxd8 Rxd8 16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.Rc7 winning a pawn, and if Black played 13...Nce4 on the previous move 14.Qxd8 Rxd8 15.Nxe4 Nxe4 the invasion 16.Rc7? would be a mistake 16... Bd6 17.Rxb7 g5! And the knight on e5 loses its defender.

The lost match to the Americans in round nine again prevented the Russians from climbing to the top step of the Olympic pedestal. It turned into a very tough encounter for Russia. On the first board Kramnik lost to Nakamura, while on the second Grischuk conducted a long and tough defence in his game against Kamsky.

Russia – USA

Grischuk,A (2763) - Kamsky,G (2746)

40th Olympiad Open Istanbul TUR (9), 06.09.2012

55.Be3!? Grischuk decided to take the game into the endgame of rook against rook and bishop, but with only seconds remaining on his clock he proved unable to save it. 55...Bxe3 56.Rxf5+ Kxg3 57.Re5 Rf2+ 58.Ke1 Kf4 59.Re8 Ra2 60.Kd1 Kf3

An unexpected loss for Onischuk in the match against China deprived the US team of medal chances a round before the end of the tournament.

China – USA

Ding,Liren (2695) - Onischuk,A (2666)

40th Olympiad Open Istanbul TUR (10), 07.09.2012

It looks incredible, but it’s possible to lose even such an apparently absolutely drawn ending.

54.g4 Ra1?! The first inaccuracy.

55.g5! It seems this move turned out to be such a surprise for Onischuk that he totally lost control of the situation and, despite having plenty of time, he thought a little and played 55...Rh1?? He could still have drawn with55...fxg5 56.Rd6+ Kf5 57.Rd5+ Kg6 58.hxg5 h4 59.f4 h3.

This position has been seen dozens of times. White usually either offers an exchange of queens - 11.c4, or continues with 11.Nf3. Li Chao demonstrates a new double-edged plan. 11.d6!?N Nd7 12.h4 Qa4 13.f3 h5 14.Nh3 b6 15.Be2 Ba6 16.0–0 Both sides have chances.

16.h4N This move had actually already occurred once, but the only person who could accuse Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of plagiarism is Shakhriyar Mamedyarov himself. In the game Mamedyarov-Marcelin/Istanbul 2003 Black reacted with the immediate 16...h6.

21...exd5 22.exd5 Bxd5 23.Ne5 The dynamic energy of the white pieces has dramatically increased, but for the moment Black has no weaknesses. 23...Nf6 24.Bc4 Qa8 25.Bxd5 Nxd5 26.Qd2 Rd8 27.Re4 Qb8? One inaccuracy and Black’s position collapses!

28.Ng4! The game can no longer be saved. Black’s problem is that if 28...Rc7 29.Rd4 Rcd7 things are decided by 30.Nxh6+!